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The Internet may have eaten into the U.S. Postal Service’s First-Class Mail volume and revenue, but digital devotion does bring good news, too. Package shipping is on the rise, due in large part to the ever-increasing popularity of online shopping. The Postal Service’s future could brighten considerably because of this expanding market, but is the Postal Service prepared to compete effectively in it?

Our new white paper, Package Services: Get Ready, Set, Grow!, essentially probes that question and comes up with several intriguing findings. As our auditors have noted, the Postal Service has done a good job of managing package growth in terms of mail volume and workhours. But it could do more. And it will have to, not only because UPS and FedEx are offering modernized, end-to-end products and services in response to customer demand, but also because some e-tailers, like Amazon, are expanding to offer their own shipping and delivery options.

Last year American businesses and consumers spent more than $68 billion to ship packages domestically; the Postal Service accounted for almost two-fifths of the total volume but less than one-fifth of the total revenue. That worked out to an average $3.37 of revenue per package for the Postal Service. UPS’s and FedEx’s average revenue per piece for their domestic packages were $9.39 and $9.70, respectively. The main reasons for the disparity? The Postal Service excels in lightweight and last-mile package delivery, which generate comparatively lower revenues.

The white paper says the Postal Service could increase its revenue-per-package average by adding new services that customers want. For example:

Improving tracking service and package-return service

Offering email and text alerts to parcel senders and recipients

Specifying time-windows for delivery

What do you think? How could the Postal Service expand its dominance in lightweight packages to higher-revenue packages? What package services would make you use the Postal Service more than you do now? How much online shopping do you do compared to in-store shopping?

Social media isn’t just for fun any more. Sure, millions of people are still tweeting, posting, pinning, and sharing things with each other online by the nanosecond. But 70 percent of businesses and organizations worldwide, including the U.S. Postal Service, also have active Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media accounts.

Why? Because they recognize that social media is an important channel of business communication, particularly in light of research from management consultants McKinsey & Company estimating there is between $900 billion and $1.3 trillion in annual value to the economy that could be unlocked by social media technologies. So how is the Postal Service using social media? Last summer we released a Management Advisory noting that the agency is present on no less than 18 social media sites. And now our new white paper – Like, Share, Tweet: Social Media and the Postal Service – identifies multiple ways the Postal Service could not only improve its current social media activities, but also expand upon them to develop new products and services, such as:

Crowdshipping

Identification services

Hybrid products bridging physical and digital communications

Social e-commerce services

Social e-commerce services, for example, could facilitate the use of social platforms as storefronts, similar to online shops on Etsy or Amazon. The Postal Service could manage those storefronts’ back-end operations by providing services such as micro-warehousing, fulfillment, and delivery.

The paper ultimately makes the case that an overall stronger and more robust social media strategy could help the Postal Service remain competitive in the digital age by better responding to changing communication needs, improving the customer experience, creating value through social commerce, and cutting costs.

Tell us what you think:

How could the Postal Service improve its social media activity?

How might your view of the Postal Service be affected by better social media activity?

Wouldn’t it be nice to receive only the advertising mail that interests you? Information about products and services you like or want to learn about, and nothing else? And wouldn’t it be nice for advertisers to know more about what recipients think about their ads? Is an offer appealing, but the timing is not right, or is a recipient completely uninterested?

Creating a system to share this information is a possibility, and the U.S. Postal Service could play a key role in making it happen. That’s the concept of a new white paper released by the Postal Service Office of Inspector General today. Strengthening Advertising Mail by Building a Digital Information Market highlights the importance of maintaining and strengthening advertising mail by enabling more direct communication from mail recipients ultimately back to the advertiser.

Ad mailings could then be targeted with almost pinpoint accuracy, increasing revenues for advertisers and reducing recycling for everyone. The system would benefit the Postal Service, too, by making ad mail even more relevant and valuable.

One potential approach starts with using a smart phone or tablet to scan a digital code on the front of a piece of ad mail you receive, and then accessing an interactive system into which you can record your advertising preferences. In return, you are sent a coupon redeemable for merchandise from a variety of vendors, and in the future you would receive ads tailored to products and services of interest to you. Participation would be strictly voluntary, and privacy guidelines would be established.

Tell us what you think! Do you think customers would be inclined to access an interactive system to record advertising preferences if it meant special offers or more targeted mailings in the future?

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92612924912561581832235420 i mailed this on 02/12/2015 and it still says that it is in ANAHEIM, CA 92899 Why would it still be their i need to know if this has been delivered as i cant get my money back untill it is could you please let me know...

First off degrading service standard in effect is charging money for first class and providing third class service. That's called fraud! The consolidations are needed no doubt. But USPS is not laying employees off of shuting down Plants. The...